Mayor Bass’s One-Day Pothole PR Stunt Leaves Ordinary Angelenos in the Dust

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass finally found a pothole worth her time. After Emmy-nominated journalist and comedy creator Simone Boyce posted an Instagram reel spotting a crater at Melrose and Gardner Street—one that “totally tore up my suspension”—and challenged the mayor to “Mamdani” it like New York’s viral pothole fix, Bass jumped at the photo op. “Simone Boyce we got you!” she declared.

Simone Boyce we got you!

Spot a pothole on your street? Send it our way. Report it to 311, through the MyLA311 app or at https://t.co/ahN3BrvW9M. pic.twitter.com/uGsvXwMFku

— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) August 14, 2026

City crews rolled out the next day. Problem: a car was parked squarely on the hole. Bass filmed herself explaining the setback. “So we couldn’t repair the pothole,” she said. “So you know what we did? We put up no parking signs so that hopefully there won’t be anybody parked here tomorrow morning.” She then plugged the city’s 311 system and MyLA311 app, urging Angelenos to report issues themselves. The pothole got fixed the following day. Boyce posted a follow-up thanking the mayor and noting, “I’ve been reporting potholes, bulky item pickups, etc. to 311 for years… I upload pictures so they can locate the issue. I hope this post encourages people to actually use 311.”

Cue the outrage. Regular Angelenos who have spent months, sometimes years, begging the city to fix far worse craters watched this celebrity-level response with gritted teeth. One driver after another noted the same pattern: report via the much-hyped MyLA311 app or website, upload photos, get a ticket number, and then wait indefinitely while the hole grows, rims bend, and suspensions suffer.

In another Instagram reel, a woman identifying as a journalist lays out her specific frustrations with Los Angeles roads. She describes repeatedly hitting the same neglected potholes, the resulting damage to her vehicle, and her long-running efforts to get help through the city’s own system. She details using the 311 app and website—uploading photos, filing reports, tracking tickets—only to watch the holes worsen while nothing happens. Her account captures what countless Angelenos experience daily: a digital complaint process that generates confirmation numbers but little action.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcCFIfPBKFf/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Boyce herself acknowledged the disparity, hoping the mayor’s office would “extend this same urgency to ALL Angelenos, not just me.” Now that we know a pothole can be addressed in 24 hours when the right Instagram account tags City Hall, why does it take forever for everyone else?

This is classic Los Angeles governance under Bass: basic infrastructure treated as an optional afterthought until a social media moment demands a performance. The city has long blamed “decades of underinvestment” and rain for the lunar landscape of its streets. Crews claim thousands of potholes filled after storms. Yet drivers still navigate minefields on major corridors. The 311 system, repeatedly promoted as the solution, functions more like a digital suggestion box than a reliable service pipeline. Residents document the same holes repeatedly. Responses, when they come, lag. Damage claims against the city pile up, reportedly $58.4 million in 2024-25.

Bass’s rapid response to Boyce was not leadership. It was theater—an attempt to borrow some of the viral magic from New York while reminding everyone that ordinary taxpayers should just keep filing digital complaints. Meanwhile, the broader network of broken asphalt, neglected maintenance, and diverted priorities continues. One high-profile fix does not erase months of silence for the rest of the city. Angelenos already know how to use 311. What they want is a city that treats their roads with the same urgency it shows a well-timed Instagram reel.